Pochettino's 'painful' dig pays off at Chelsea as Boehly smashes £1bn mark
Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign Manchester City forward Cole Palmer - pushing Todd Boehly's spending over the £1billion mark.
It's believed City have accepted a £45million bid from the Blues for Palmer, 21, who helped England win the U21 Euros earlier this summer. Personal terms aren't expected to be an issue, with Chelsea hoping to announce the transfer before Friday's deadline.
Chelsea are set to pay £40m up front for Palmer, with a further £5m coming in add-ons. The forward is one of City's most exciting young talents and has played 41 times for Pep Guardiola's side, with 25 of those outings coming in their Treble-winning campaign.
Chelsea have been the biggest spenders in Europe since Boehly's consortium completed a takeover of the club just over a year ago. They have backed new manager Mauricio Pochettino in the transfer market, giving him plenty of options.
Pochettino will welcome Chelsea's expenditure having criticised Tottenham, his former employers, for not investing in the squad during his time in charge. The Argentine left Spurs in November 2019 after five-and-a-half years, despite being a popular figure.
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Pochettino came close to success in north London, leading Tottenham to League Cup and Champions League finals. His team also finished second in the Premier League behind Chelsea in 2017, but they just couldn't get over the line.
Pochettino's budget at Tottenham was limited due to the cost of building their stadium. He made that point just months before his exit. "When you talk about Tottenham, everyone says you have an amazing house but you need to put in the furniture," he said.
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"If you want to have a lovely house maybe you need better furniture. And it depends on your budget if you are going to spend money. We need to be respectful with teams like Manchester City or Liverpool who spend a lot of money.
"We are brave, we are clever, we are creative. Now it’s about creating another chapter and to have the clear idea of how we are going to build that new project. We need to rebuild. It’s going to be painful."
Tottenham, who are without European football this season, never listened to Pochettino... but Chelsea did. With add-ons, the Palmer deal will take Boehly's spending beyond the £1bn mark. That is staggering considering he's only been in charge for just over a year.
Boehly's ambition is to sign the most promising young players in world football, such as Palmer. The likes of Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Nicolas Jackson, Dorde Petrovic, Deivid Washington and Lesley Ugochukwu have signed for the Blues this summer.
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